Creating your library and the Ten Memory Dates

There are only ten dates we really encourage you to memorize, not because they are the most important dates, but they are easier to memorize and are useful anchors to help remember when other things happened in history. There are additional dates in each lesson, expose your family or students to these dates but they aren't expected to memorize them. Most of all, promote a lot of historical reading, including historical fiction.

No person can learn all there is to learn about history in one lifetime, but with Lifelong History, a foundation is built during the school years and reading continues on through adulthood.

If you have room in your house for two or three bookshelves, I recommend using shelf labels with the dates to organize your books in chronological order, rather than by author or other method. This gives a visual to support your family's growing familiarity with history.

You can include date-specific games, videos, and audiobooks in your library.

The Ten Memory Dates are:

1.   Abt. 1184BC   Troy destroyed by the Greeks (Sea People)

2.   323 BC           Death of Alexander the Great, kingdom splits

3.   70 AD             Jerusalem temple destroyed 

4.   453 AD           Death of Atilla the Hun

5.   800                 Charlemagne crowned emperor

6.   1453               Gutenberg’s Press

7.   1547               Ivan the Terrible Tsar of all Russia, Henry VIII dies

8.   1863               US Civil War

9.   1939               WWII

10.  2001             Terrorist attack on Twin Towers